Means for locking metal-bound boxes.



11. P. FLEMING. MEANS FOR. LOCKING METAL BOUND BOXES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1910.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Jazz,

FFTCE.

DOUGLAS 1?. FLEMING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 SIMPLEX METAL BOUND BOX COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MEANS FOR LOOKING METAL-BOUND BOXES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DOUGLAS P. FLEMING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful 11nprovement in Means for Looking Metal- Bound Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for locking metal-bound boxes, which I have devised for use, more especially, with the metal-bound box forming the subject of Reissued Letters Patent h o. 12,800, dated May 26th, 1908, to E. E. Flora, to facilitate locking and unlocking the box.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a broken perspective view showing my improved locking means applied to one end of the box of the aforesaid patent; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in elevation of the corner presented in Fig. 1 which is equipped with the locking means, to show the key in its operative condition; Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken section on line 3, Fig. 1, and Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the flexible metal key.

The box 5 comprises a bodyportion formed of a blank consisting of sheets of veneer, fiber-board, or the like, connected in spaced relation by sheet-metal bindingstrips 6, each formed with trough-like sections 7 to receive the ends of the sheets, which are secured therein, as by indenting the metal at intervals, and flanges 8 extending from the inner edges of the sections 7 to present abutments to the box-heads 9. The box 5, formed with the particular blank thus described, is produced by bending the metal strips 6 between the sheets to extend the latter at right-angles to each other and produce the box-body consisting of the sides, the bottom, and the lid 10; and it is the practice, in thus forming a box from the blank, to fold the latter about the heads 9, which may or may not be permanently secured to the flanges 8, by indenting, stapling, riveting, or otherwise. The drawing shows only one end of the box; but it will be understood that the opposite end is a counterpart of the end so presented. Each binding-strip section on the lid 10 terminates in a lip 11 to be bent when the lid is closed, to overlap the adjacent end of the bindingstrip section 011 a box-side; and the lip is provided with a hole 12 to register with a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 28, 1910.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Serial No. 584,311.

hole 13 (Fig. 2) formed through the said section.

To fasten the lid, I provide the key 1 1. This key is formed of a suitable length of flexible wire, preferably of angular crosssection. This wire is shaped to form the straight key-stem 15 with an extension 16 to afford a handle, as hereinafter explained, a bridging-section 17 extending at a right-am gle to the stem, a neck-section 18 extending at a right-angle to the section 17, and a tongue 19 extending inwardly at a rightangle to the neck-section. A key 1 1 is applied to each lip 11 by inserting the stem 15, at the extension 16, through the coincident holes 12 and 13, whereby the section 17 crosses or bridges the lip 11; and turning the stem in its bearings introduces the tongue into its keeper formed by the space behind the lip. The extension 16 is then bent upwardly to house it in the sunken end of the box against the inner face of the adjacent binding-strip section therein,-where it is out of the way and readily accessible as a handle, besides abutting inwardly against the flange of the box-end binding to tend to prevent accidental dislodgement of the tongue 19 fromits looking position. To unlock the box, the handle 16 of each key should be bent to its original position of an alining extension of the keyste1n, thereby per1nitting the latter to be turned to withdraw the tongue and then permitting the key to be withdrawn from the lip.

The key is shown in the drawings as ap plied to the right-hand end of the box, and the extension 16 has to be bent upwardly to form the handle to prevent the tongue 19 from accidentally turning out of its keeper or space behind the lip 11. For the same purpose the extension 16 of the key, when the latter is used on the lefthand end of the box, should be bent downwardly. Thus manipulating the handleforming extensions on two similar keys avoids the necessity of making them right-and-left hand.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination, a metal-bound box having the ends of its body-portion bound with sheet-metal trough-like strips provided with lips on the ends of their lid-binding sections to overlap the adjacent binding-strip sections, said lips having key-holes and similar holes being provided through said adjacent sections to coincide with said keyholes, and keys, each comprising a flexible Wire formed into a key-stem section withdrawably inserted through said coincident holes and provided with a handle-forming extension, a bridging-section, a neck-section and a tongue-section, said sections of the key extending at suitable angles to each other to adapt the tongue-section to enter the space behind the lip by turning the key.

2. In combination, a metal-bound boX having the ends of its body-portion bound with sheetmetal trouglilike strips provided with lips on the ends of their lid-binding sections, said lips having key-holes and similar holes being provided through said adjacent sections to coincide with said key holes, and keys, each comprising a flexible wire of angular cross-section formed into a key-stem section withdrawably inserted through said coincident holes and provided with a handle-forming extension, a bridging-section, a neck-section and a tongue-section, said sections of the key extending at right-angles to each other to adapt the tongue-section to enter the space behind the lip by turning the key.

DOUGLAS P. FLEMING.

In presence of- A. RAYMOND, R. A. SCHAEFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

